By Rob Forsyth
William John Eide Malcher and his wife Mary came to live in Deddington to work on the railways in about 1910. They had a large family of which two sons served in WW1.
Henry Malcher about whom nothing more is known other than he is recorded as serving, and his younger brother.........
Arthur John (Jack) Malcher (1898-1982) enlisted with the Gloucestershire Regiment in August 1916 as he turned 18. He went with them to France. He was full of stories about the front - including shell holes big enough to lose a gun carriage and its horses into and keeping his food in a billy can to stop the rats stealing it. He was similarly full of stories about his posting to India on re-enlistment in the Regiment on the 16th June 1919 which was the day after he was discharged from War Service. He spent some time in the Khyber Pass which was the source of many of his stories! His birth certificate, service documents and a few of the postcards that he brought home from India can be seen HERE. His volunteering to re-enlist may have been because his father had returned to London after his wife died and Jack had no real home to go to. He was discharged for the second time in June 1921 when he returned to Deddington where he worked for the whole of his life in Hopcraft butchers - which subsequently became Powells.
in 1922 Jack married Mary Smith of Deddington. Mary's two brothers, John & William Smith, had also both served in WWI. Jack, Mary and their three sons (Bill, Steve and Denis) and daughter (Mary, who subseqently married Jim Morris from Kings Sutton) lived in 'Sunnyside' on Castle Street - now the home of Joan Hayward and still called by the same name.
During WWII Jack was a member of the Royal Observer Corps and he can be seen in a photograph of the crew that manned the Deddington ROC post which was located on the Hempton Road. His certificate of competence in recognition of aircraft types can be seen here
(a composite photograph created by their families)
William (Bill) John MALCHER* (1925-1997) Leading Telegraphist
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Bill was the same age as, and a good friend of, Bill Cowley. They both tried to sign up together while under age but were sent home until they were 17. Bill Malcher then joined the Royal Navy whilst his friend joined the Royal Marines. Bill Cowley's story can be found HERE.
He served on HMS HARGOOD which was a US Lease lend built ship employed on Atlantic convoy escort duties much of the time.
His widow, Edna, says that he talked very little of his experiences but she recalls him mentioning that when Action Stations were set the telegraphists were locked into the wireless office. He saw a lot of ships torpedoed in the Atlantic and men in the oily burning water and also had terrible memories of D Day when HARGOOD assisted with the landings on Omaha Beach; here they saw hundreds of bodies floating out to sea from the beaches.
At the end of the war he spent time at HMS MERLIN, a Fleet Air Arm airfield at Donibristle in Fife, Scotland from whence he was demobbed.
In 1948 he married Edna whom he had met while dancing at The Dome in Brighton in 1944. They lived in Deddington and Bill worked for the Council. Edna became the Librarian 3 months after the new library was opened in 1956 by JR Tolkien. Edna became great friends with the 3 other wives who came from outside the village and had married Deddington men. (see links at foot of article) They subsequently had 3 children - Ian (1949), Elizabeth (1952) and Paul (1967). They moved to Banbury shortly after Paul was born.
Arthur Denis (Denis) MALCHER* (b1926) Private
At the outbreak of war Denis was only 13 but joined the Home Guard until he was 18 (1944) when he signed on for the Royal Army Ordance Corps, in which he served until he was demobbed in1947. Most of his time was spent at Donnington in Shropshire but latterly he was closer to home at Bicester.
Stephen (Steve) George MALCHER*(b1928) Leading Aircraftman (Ground Gunner) National Serviceman.
Steve was just too young to serve during the war like his brothers but he wanted to join the RAF so joined the Air Training Corps and was also in the ROC. He became a National Serviceman from 1946 -1949 serving in the RAF Regiment which was charged with defence of airfields. He was stationed in Hamburg, Germany throughout his time. He was seconded for some of the time to Berlin as an aircraft loader during the Berlin Airlift.
Acknowledgement
I am most grateful to Edna Malcher (Bill's widow) and Mary Morris (née Malcher and sister to the 3 boys) for the information in this article. Also to Michael Powell who provided me with the photo of the Deddington ROC crew and remembers Jack telling endless stories in the family's shop about his time in France during WW1 and then India.
The other 3 Deddington men and their wives with whom The Malchers became lifelong friends and whose stories are on DOL are: